


Work Place Health and Safety

by Fightforfiction



Category: Killing Eve (TV 2018)
Genre: A LOT of Angst, Asshole teacher Villanelle, Cheating, F/F, I have decided that I am not very good at tagging, Or summaries for that matter, Other characters are mentioned I just wasnt bothered to tag them, Successful Business woman Eve, Two Idiots falling for each other, dramatic Niko, marriage problems, school au, there will be smut eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:00:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25802509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fightforfiction/pseuds/Fightforfiction
Summary: Eve was struggling enough in her marriage, but now a new teacher had to just come and fuck everything up at Niko's work.How can Eve keep her mind off of the unnecessarily good looking and arrogant language teacher, when she is all that her husband will talk about?Can Eve keep up the facade of a happy marriage? Or will it fall away when she realises that there are so many new things to learn?AU where Villanelle is a cocky ass language teacher who likes to make Niko's life a living hell
Relationships: Eve Polastri/Villanelle | Oksana Astankova
Comments: 86
Kudos: 290





	1. All Teachers are the Same

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I'm just putting this first chapter out to see the response, and if all goes well then hopefully I can keep going with it!

“And how does that make you feel, Niko?”

Eve rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time, as the hour of her and Niko’s marriage counselling session dragged on. It’s not that Eve didn’t enjoy hearing about her husband’s likes and dislikes about their marriage, she just didn’t like how dramatic he was about _everything_.

Eve stays up to make sure all of their accounts are up to date. _She’s avoiding sex._ Eve goes on a morning jog to clear her mind. _She doesn’t want to have a meal with him._ Eve stays late at work to make sure everything is done for the day. _She’s putting work before their relationship._

It’s great her and Niko are trying to get their marriage back on track, and it’s great that their therapist has been so patient with them over the last year. But the idea of spending an hour every Thursday afternoon for the rest of her life, listening to Niko make everything Eve does in her life about him, makes her want to throw up.

They met fifteen years ago, when Eve first opened her café across the road from the school Niko worked at. He would come in every morning and afternoon, asking for a small tea with a dash of milk. Back then he was handsome and _interesting_. He would ask Eve about her day and would tell her funny stories about his students. They married three years later, and the rest was history.

Eve phased out of the last bit of their counselling session, absentmindedly looking out the window behind Dr. Ryan’s head as Niko droned on about how Eve doesn’t seem to take an interest in anything he does anymore. Eve wasn’t interested in anything that Niko did anymore because he was boring. Bridge? _Boring._ Mathematics? _Boring._ Reading? _Boring._

Niko never really took an interest in Eve’s interests either, the difference was that she just didn’t care.

“Oh, that looks to be the end of our session,” Dr. Ryan said with a warm smile.

Eve thanked their therapist and legged it out of the office, with Niko trailing behind her. Eve needed to get to the café as soon as possible, to make sure that Elena had locked up properly. Well that was her excuse for leaving in a hurry.

“You’ll meet me there?” Niko asked, his eyebrows raised. Eve knew that he thought that she had forgotten about the teachers evening. But she hadn’t. She wanted to stick it to Niko that she actually _remembered_ something for once.

“Yeah,” Eve said, checking her watch to see how much time she had. The teachers evening started at 6:30pm, and it was now 5:45pm. She had a dress hanging up in the back room that she could change into, and Elena always kept some spare makeup out the back, so Eve could touch up her face there. “I’ll be there as soon as the shop is fully closed.”

Niko gave her a tight smile and a quick peck on the cheek. Eve tried to not grimace at the stubble that scratched her face. She smiled at him and said her goodbyes, before finally heading in the direction of the café. It was a quick walk to the shop, only 10 minutes or so, which would hopefully allow Eve enough time to mentally prepare herself for the unbelievably boring night she was going to have. As much as she liked the free booze that they offered at teachers evening, Eve couldn’t stand hearing about the trials and tribulations of high school teachers.

* * *

A few minutes later Eve came to a stop in front of the café doors, which had the closed sign dangling in front of her face, she pushed them open to find Elena sitting at on the countertop with a glass of wine in hand. Elena was Eve’s business partner, who bought into the café a few years ago. Together they managed to turn a small one-coffee-machine business into a trendy little bookshop-café. Eve decidedly moved her priority from the food and drink side of things to the books, citing that she was no good at making coffee anyway and that she would be better off spending her time with Kurt Vonnegut and Virginia Woolf. Not that Elena minded, she liked coming up with new cake and cookie recipes. 

“How was your weekly torture session?” Elena asked, tipping her wine glass towards Eve. She hopped down off of the counter and pulled a wine glass down from the shelf, pouring Eve a glass.

“You know,” Eve said absentmindedly, taking the glass that Elena had outstretched towards her. “Boring as fuck.”

“Did Niko let you speak this time?”

“I reckon I got at least eight minutes.” Eve sipped her wine, savouring the taste of the six-euro bottle.

“Well, hey, that’s four more than last time,” Elena replied, shooting Eve a wink.

Eve was grateful for Elena, as she came into her life at the right time. When Eve was ready to sell up her café and find some other career to fail at, Elena turned up out of the blue and helped Eve turn the business around. They loved working together and always seemed to be on the same wavelength about everything.

“How’d the training go with that new kid?” Eve asked, rounding the counter and shucking her jacket off of her shoulders. They had a couple of new hires as the summer was over and high school graduates were looking for work that would allow them to finally leave the nest.

Elena didn’t answer, her eyes were trained on her phone as she typed out a response to a message, her lips upturned into a bashful smile.

“Elena.”

“Huh?”

“What’s his name?”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” Elena tucked her phone in her pocket and gave Eve a pointed stare, not before letting a large smile break across her features. Eve shook her head and smiled into her wine glass as she took a sip, she knew that it was going to take a couple more wines to get this information out of her colleague, but they didn’t have time for that.

“I need to get ready anyway, this teachers evening starts in like twenty-five minutes,” Eve sighed, as she checked her watch. She set her wine glass down and walked into the back room, finding her blue dress hanging up on the coat rack.

“I made sure that no one went near your dress!” Elena called from the front of shop.

“Thank you!”

“I’m glad you’re going for the slutty look this year; it’ll give those boring ass teachers something to look at!”

Eve laughed, knowing how judgemental teachers in that environment can be. She just loved stirring the pot and Niko didn’t mind when his colleagues would ogle at Eve, he liked having a wife that could scrub up quite nicely.

Eve changed quickly, ditching her white turtleneck and green slacks for the tight navy-blue dress. She looked at herself in the mirror that was leant up the back-room wall, running her hands over the tight material. Eve let her hair down and ran her fingers through it, giving the wild curls some more volume.

Elena came in with Eve’s wine glass topped up, she handed it to her and then quickly got to work on touching up Eve’s makeup. Just a little mascara, eyeshadow and lipstick did the trick.

“Wow, you are a sexy bitch.” Elena took Eve’s hand and twirled her around, earning a giggle from her. “If I wasn’t so devoted to the penis, I would be crushing hard on you.”

Eve touched her chest giving Elena a heartfelt look. “Elena, you have such a way with words.”

Elena laughed, taking a large gulp of her wine. “Let me know if there are any new hottie teachers this year, a gal likes to keep her options open.”

“Trust me,” Eve said patting her friend’s shoulder. “They’re all exactly like Niko.” Elena grimaced, her face scrunching up in an almost comical way.

Eve checked her watch once more and realised it was already 6:30. “Shit. I’ve got to go.”

“Okay, babes!” Elena said, taking Eve’s wine glass off of her and moving back into the front of shop. Eve shrugged her jacket back on and looked at herself one last time in the mirror.

She looked _good._

* * *

Eve entered the gym at 6:38. Though it was only a three minute walk to the school from the café, Eve couldn’t remember where she put her heels, so she was running around for five minutes trying to find them until Elena found them wedged behind a box of tea bags.

She removed her jacket, smoothing down her dress as she scanned the room. It was a pitiful party, with low music playing and people scattered around. Eve knew that she shouldn’t have had arrived so early, most people didn’t turn up for at least another half-hour, but Niko insisted that they be there on time.

She scanned the sparse crowd of people and her eyes landed on Niko. He had changed out of the clothes he had worn to their counselling session and was now in something a bit _smarter_. Eve saw that he was standing next to Gemma, an art or English teacher – Eve didn’t know and didn’t care – who wore a _very_ floral dress and bright pink cardigan.

She made her way towards them, calling out Niko’s name and giving him a small wave. He smiled at her, his eyes scanning her body. Eve should feel happy that her husband is taking notice of the effort she is putting in for him, but she doesn’t. She feels nothing as he pulls her into his side and gives her a fleeting kiss.

Niko was good at keeping up appearances. He was good at looking like the doting husband to a moderately-successful wife. He kissed Eve when he needed to and said the right things at the right time. But when it came to it, all he could do was complain about her to their therapist. Eve was never one to put on a façade when things got difficult.

“Hi Eve!” Gemma said a little too loudly. Eve turned to her and gave her a tight smile, knowing that the red head had been trying to get into Niko’s pants for years. “We didn’t know if you were going to make it this year.”

“Oh really?” Eve said looking up at her husband, who kept his eyes trained on the younger woman. “Why would you guys think that?”

“Well, I’ve just being telling Gemma and anyone else who would listen, about how successful the business has been.” Niko said, looking back down at Eve.

“And well we thought that you would be too swamped with work to show up!” Gemma added on, waving her hands around in an odd manner.

“Well, I am here aren’t I?” Eve laughed, causing Niko and Gemma to laugh. Eve noticed how Gemma laughed a little too forcefully.

“Oh well,” Gemma said, looking over to the snack and booze tables. “I’m going to get myself a drink and work the room! Talk to you guys soon.”

Eve turned to Niko as she walked away, “What does she teach again?”

Niko sighed, looking down at Eve with a look that tells her that he is mildly annoyed. “She’s a home economics teacher, Eve, I’ve told you this plenty of times.”

“I’m sorry!” Eve threw her hands up. “You know how forgetful I am!”

Niko’s face softened and he wrapped his arms around her, leaning in and giving her a quick peck on the forehead. Eve didn’t like the blatant PDA.

“I know,” Niko said as he pulled back. “Just make sure that you ask at least one question on how to knit or set up a sewing machine, Gemma gets very excited over that.”

“Okay I promise I will.” Eve said, giving Niko a small smile.

Eve stood by Niko’s side while he talked to his colleagues. She fiddled with the stem of her wine glass, wondering how long it would be socially acceptable for her to top up her drink. She caught fragments of conversations, something about five new teachers starting, with one coming in from France to be the new head of department for language studies. Apparently, this was a bad thing, because Niko’s moustache downturned and his brows furrowed.

“What’s so bad with there being a new head of department?” Eve asked once Niko’s friends had moved on.

“You know Gary?” Eve nodded, even though she didn’t. “He has been gunning for that position for years, but they went with a transfer from some fancy college. We’re all pretty devastated for him, because we all know how much work he’s been putting in just to be considered for the position.”

“Maybe it’s good to have some new blood to take the position, it maybe could bring a fresh outlook to language studies,” Eve considered, but once the words were out of her mouth, she knew they were wrong. Niko was looking at her with an incredulous look, like she had stabbed him and twisted the blade for good measure. “I’m sorry, I don’t really understand how this whole teaching thing works.”

“Yeah –“

Niko was cut off by a loud banging, as the gym doors flew open. Everyone looked to see a woman standing at the entrance with her hands lazily tucked into her trouser pockets. She was gorgeous. Her blonde hair was effortlessly tied back into a knot at the back of her head, with tendrils of hair framing her striking face. She wore a white button down tucked into tan trousers, matched with a patterned tie and a beige sweater hanging from her shoulders. She had as look of boredom on her face already as she scanned the room.

Eve was struck with a wave of awe.

Everyone had already gone back to their chatter from the interruption, but Eve’s eyes stayed trained on the blonde as she moved through the crowd and towards the principal.

“Who’s that?” Eve asked, tugging on Niko’s sleeve.

“I don’t know yet,” Niko said, looking over to where the blonde was standing. “She must be one of the new teachers, could be the fill in for the music teacher? Ally’s gone on maternity leave.”

“Huh.” Eve watched her, trying to figure out how someone as interesting looking as her could have ended up in a job like this. _Maybe not all of them are like Niko,_ Eve thought to herself.

Eve’s thoughts were broken by another one of Niko’s work friends introducing themselves to her. They talked with them for a while, with Eve commenting on the changing curriculum, trying to remember key words that Niko had told her, like pedagogy and educational framework. A few people here and there commented on Eve’s café, praising her on how good their brew had gotten and making a few jokes about early morning coffee runs starting up again soon.

“Niko!” The principal called out, interrupting their conversations. Both Niko and Eve turned to find the principal – _Henway was it?_ – and the blonde woman walking toward them. Eve locked eyes with her, watching as her gaze swept up Eve’s body, leaving a shiver rise up Eve’s spine in its wake. They settled on Eve’s, glinting in the low lighting of the gym. Her lips twitched up in a smirk as she regarded Eve.

“Principal Henway! How are you going!” Niko shook the principal’s hand and gestured to Eve, “You remember Eve?”

“Yes of course! Eve, how are you?”

“I am well, thank you.” Eve shifted her eyes from the blonde to Niko’s boss, shaking the hand that he had outstretched. Niko and Eve turned to the blonde woman, who looked between them with a sceptical stare.

“Where are my manners?!” Principal Henway exclaimed, “Niko and Eve, this is Ms. Astankova, she is starting next week.”

Niko shook the blonde’s hand first, Eve noticed Niko’s slight wince as her hand wrapped around his. Eve shook her hand next, feeling her soft palm slide against her own. She locked eyes with her again, feeling a gentle squeeze come from the blonde. Eve smiled at her softly, finding it hard to take her eyes away from her. Eve noticed that she was tall, much taller than herself. Shorter than Niko. But still _tall_.

“So nice to meet you, Eve,” She said softly, an accent pulling delicately on her words. Eve could hear the slight drawl of her name, almost as if the blonde was savouring the sound of it on her lips. She paused, looking back up to Niko. “You too.”

“I better let you all get on with your pleasantries!” Henway gave Niko a pat on the shoulder and went off into the crowd of teachers.

“So…,” Niko started awkwardly, his usually charming demeanour thrown off at the intensity of the blonde’s stare. He cleared his throat, “I’m the head of the mathematic department for senior secondary.”

“Hmm,” She looked him up and down, her gaze more flippant and uncaring than how it was when she looked at Eve. “You look like someone stuck a moustache on some fudge.”

Eve couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her. She pressed a hand to her mouth as she looked up at Niko, who’s mouth opened and closed a few times, before clamping shut. Eve tried her best not to laugh, but it was the most accurate description of Niko that she had ever heard.

“Do you work here?” She asked as she turned to Eve.

“No, I don’t,” Eve had to cut herself short before adding the words ‘ _thank god’_ to the end of the sentence. The blonde’s eyes slightly narrowed, her lips pouting slightly. “I own a café about a three-minute walk from here.” She was still watching Eve with her narrowed eyes, and Eve finally realised what she was thinking. “Niko is my husband.”

Her expression fell for a split second, but she expertly covered the lapse with an assholish smirk. “It has been very nice meeting you Eve, you have excellent hair.”

The blonde turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Niko and Eve behind. Eve couldn’t help but let her eyes follow her as she disappeared into the crowd.

“Wow,” Niko chuckled to himself, running a hand through his hair. “She’s…”

“ _Fascinating_.” Eve breathed. Looking up at Niko’s confused expression, she knew that he didn’t get the same impression of her.

“I was going to say rude,” Niko said stiffly.

Eve now realised that he must have gotten a little butt hurt at the fudge comment and she stared to laugh, swatting at her husband’s chest. “I think you are a very handsome piece of _fudge_.” Niko pouted like a child for a second, trying to conceal the smile that was forcing itself onto his features.

There was a squeal from the gym speakers as the principal tapped a microphone, everyone fell quiet as he did his introduction, and ‘warmed up the crowd’. He thanked everyone for coming to the first ‘teachers and partners evening’ for the year and reminded them that the mini bar was far from being drained, making Niko and the rest of his colleagues laugh.

Eve phased out for a few minutes, hoping that the speech could be done so she could go top her glass up without being stared at. Her attention was caught again when the principal started to introduce the new teachers to the crowd, there was five of them in total. Three men and two women, with four of them filling permanent positions and one just covering the music teacher’s maternity leave.

Eve’s eyes stayed on the blonde, who was slouched in a casual yet attractive way, doing little to conceal how uninterested she was. Her hazel eyes scanned the room, meeting Eve’s for a fleeting second before continuing on.

The blonde was the last to be introduced.

“I know you have all been eager to find out who our new head of department was for Language studies, and I know that there has been some buzz around the topic for a while. Some of the rumours are correct and we are very grateful to have Villanelle Astankova join our teaching team, from one of the most prestigious schools in France.”

 _Villanelle._ Eve repeated to herself in her head. She liked the way it sounded.

“ _She’s_ the new Language head?” Niko asked quizzically, his voice just louder than a whisper. “She doesn’t even look old enough to have graduated university, let alone being qualified enough to be a head of department.”

“Shush, Niko.” Eve scolded him, but the rest of the teachers started to buzz at this news. It seemed that they were all surprised at how a woman as young as her was qualified for such a job.

Eve turned back to the front, wanting to catch one more glimpse of the blonde before she disappeared again. But as Eve’s eyes landed on her, she found that Villanelle’s gaze was already on her.


	2. Strawberry Milkshakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for your response on the first chapter! I'm glad you guys liked it, and thank you to those who took their time to write a comment <3 I hope you enjoy this next chapter

Eve pushed open the door to the café, letting the smell of freshly ground coffee invade her senses. Elena stood behind the counter at one of the machines, waving to Eve as she let the door swing behind her.

“Hey babes!” Elena called over the whirring of the machine. Eve waved back, moving to the back room so she could shrug her coat off. She wrapped an apron around her middle and pulled her muss of curls up into a bun.

This was their daily morning ritual. Elena would come in at 6:00am to start the machines, put the first batch of baked goods on and do a stocktake for the next week; and Eve would come in at 6:30am to restock the bookshelves, set up the tables, and collect the morning newspaper from the post office. Both readying for their 7:00am open. Today though, they were both lighter than usual, it was Friday and over the weekend their management duties were handed over to one of their other staff members so they could have time off.

The machine whirring stopped as Eve entered back into the front of shop, she smoothed down her apron, hoping that she didn’t look like she rolled out of bed only twenty minutes ago.

“How did it go yesterday?” Elena asked, handing a mug of coffee to Eve.

“Niko had an important meeting to go to, so I got the afternoon off,” Eve sighed, happily. The meeting ran late into the evening, allowing Eve to get wine tipsy before getting an early night, all before Niko got home.

Eve brought the mug to her lips and taking her first sip of the day. “God you’re a coffee wizard.”

“I know!” Elena beamed.

They both got back to their tasks, chatting idly as they readied the shop for the day. Just as 7:00am rolled around, Eve was wiping down the last of the tables and Elena had just put the last of the almond croissants into the pastry window.

Eve moved to the doors and turned to Elena. “Ready?”

“Let’s get it.”

Eve flipped the sign to ‘OPEN’, opening the doors for their first customers to enter the shop.

* * *

Niko came in at 7:30am, like he did every morning. He ordered the same tea and sat at the same table by the shop window. This was his morning ritual, and Eve hated it. She hated how he would make a scene when by pulling out a couple of notes to pay for his tea, and when Elena or Eve would refuse the money, he would say something about how there was ‘benefits to marrying the owner’. Sometimes a couple of their customers would chuckle, most times the joke fell flat on its face.

“Morning Niko! The regular?” Elena called as he pushed through the doors of the café. Eve watched him as she set down a latte in front of one of their regulars, he looked a bit haggard today, angry almost.

“Morning and yes please.” Niko grumbled as he sat in his spot by the window. Eve moved toward him, picking up a paper as she went.

She leant down and gave him a kiss on the head as she put the paper in front of him. “Morning, darling.”

He gave her a weak smile under his moustache, he looked stressed. Eve knew that whatever was causing this was going to be a pain in the ass for her, because if it was making Niko’s life hard, he was going to make her life hard.

“What’s wrong?” Eve said, putting on a concerned tone as she slid into the seat across from him, she reached out and put her hand on top of his.

“It’s nothing…” Niko trailed off as he pushed a hand through his unkempt hair. Eve’s eye twitched, she hated when he deliberately withheld anything from her, knowing that this was one of his tactics to gain sympathy from Eve. She tried to bring it up to him in therapy but the suggestion that he was doing anything wrong was completely steamrolled by his dramatics.

“ _Niko_.” Eve pushed, leaning forward and resting her head on her fist, trying to put on a sympathetic face to seem like she was interested.

“It’s just…that new Astankova girl – or woman… she’s making my life a lot harder at the school.”

Eve’s eyebrow quirked at this, unsure how a language teacher could be making a math teacher’s life _that_ hard. Elena set down Niko’s tea on the table, quickly giving Eve a sorry look before hurrying back behind the counter.

“How so?”

“She just wants to _insert_ herself into everything… she’s signed up to all of the extracurricular activities, her classroom was moved down the hall from mine and all I can hear is her yelling at students in random languages. I had to move parking spaces because her designated one was put closer to the front of the lot…”

Eve phased out, not hearing anything as she sat staring at her husband spout off about a woman he barely knew. Eve didn’t know much about how high schools were run, but from what she was hearing, Miss Astankova seemed to be an attentive and involved teacher.

She let him go for a minute or so longer before excusing herself from her table, mentioning something about getting back to work, not that they were busy enough for that.

Eve actively avoided moving too close to Niko as she served customers and wiped down tables, giving him a tight smile and moving away every time he looked up at her and went to say something.

Eve’s attention was caught by a customer asking about one of their book collections, distracting her from hearing the bell of the shop ring as the door was pushed open. Suddenly the café was filled with a gorgeous and subtle scent that Eve vaguely recognised. She barely registered the heavily accented voice ask, “Can I please get a strawberry milkshake?”

Eve heard Elena’s reply as she turned around to find Villanelle handing a ten pound note over to Elena. A stark contrast to the last outfit Eve had last seen her in, Villanelle wore a beautiful high-necked long-sleeve patterned yellow and red dress, with worn leather cow-boy boots, and her hair was half up with a bun pulled back on her head. She looked effortless but breathtaking all at the same time.

Eve felt breathless for a moment before turning back around to her customer and recommending a book to them. She hoped that Niko hadn’t seen Villanelle yet, as she knew that he was likely to make an ass of himself in front of her. When the customer was done, she moved behind the counter trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible, hoping that Villanelle wouldn’t notice her.

But as Eve handed the customer their change and thanked them, she heard her name roll effortlessly off of the blonde’s tongue.

“Eve?”

She looked over to see Villanelle’s hazel eyes glinting at her, a smile playing on her full lips. Her long slender fingers grasped onto the straps of a beautifully woven bag that hung off of her shoulder, allowing the light of the store to glint off of a golden ring that she wore on her thumb.

“Villanelle.”

“I did not know that this was your café.”

“Oh…. I thought you would have forgotten about that?”

“How could I?” Villanelle said with a smile, she moved closer to Eve leaning over the counter slightly. “I would not have forgotten anything you said with hair like that.”

Eve laughed, feeling her cheeks flush. She was taken aback at the smoothness of Villanelle’s eastern European accent, at how her tongue curled in her mouth at the inflictions of her ‘R’s’.

Eve reached up and self-consciously touched her hair, noticing how Villanelle’s eyes tracked her movements.

“You should wear it down.” Villanelle said softly enough for Eve to almost miss.

“What?”

“I like it when it is down.”

Eve went to reply but was cut off by a throat clearing. She looked behind Villanelle to find Niko standing behind her. Compared to the bright colours of Villanelle, Niko looked like a sack of potatoes, with his crumpled off-white shirt tucked into brown pants with a brown leather jacket. Eve bloody hated that jacket.

“Miss. Astankova.”

“Mr. Polastri,” Villanelle said without removing her eyes from Eve. There was a shift in Villanelle with how she addressed Niko. Her whole demeanour changed, her face dropping and an arrogant smirk forming on her features.

“Early morning coffee run?” Niko’s tone was chipped. Eve could see that he was annoyed that Villanelle was there.

“No.” Villanelle said finally turning around to face Niko. “Early morning milkshake run.”

Just as the words left her mouth, Elena set the drink on the counter. “Order for Villanelle?”

The blonde snatched it up off of the counter, bringing the straw up and wrapping her lips around it. Eve couldn’t quite make out the feeling that stirred in her stomach at watching Villanelle take a long pull of her drink, her eyes rolling back in her head as she let out a sigh.

“Wow, this is the best milkshake I have ever tasted,” Villanelle smiled, turning to Elena, “You are amazing.”

“Wow thank you!” Elena beamed, “I managed to perfect the reci-”

“Don’t you have to see Mr. Henway this morning, Miss. Astankova?” Niko cut off their conversation, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head to the side.

Eve’s head whipped to Niko, not believing that he would be so rude as to talk to one of her customers like that. “Niko-“

“Yes, I do.” Villanelle replied coolly, “But not before I get a chocolate eclair.”

“Actually, that last one is mine,” Niko said quickly, “Elena would you be so kind as to pack that up for me?”

Eve looked to Elena and saw her look between the two, before turning around and grabbing the last chocolate eclair out of the window. She bagged it up and handed it to Niko, who snatched it out of her hands like a triumphant toddler. Elena grimaced at the action, giving Eve a look that said, ‘ _what the fuck is going on?_ ’

Villanelle’s expression remained stony, her eyes stayed narrowed at him and that arrogant smirk still played on her lips. Eve wasn’t sure if Villanelle was annoyed or not, cause Eve definitely was.

Villanelle turned back to Eve and Elena, “Thank you both, you have wonderful milkshakes.”

With that she pushed past Niko and left the store, milkshake in hand.

Niko turned back to Eve, his expression one of relief. “Can’t you see what I have to deal with on a daily basis?”

“God you’re an asshole,” Eve sighed, rolling her eyes at Niko and turning away from him.

“You don’t even like chocolate eclairs, Niko.” Elena piped up, giving Niko a pointed stare. “Wanker.”

* * *

As lunch time rolled around Eve was on her way to the school with a box of pastries in tow, just as she did every Friday.

A few years ago, Niko wanted Eve to become more involved in his work life, so he came up with the bright idea that Eve would bring in all of the ‘defective’ pastries for the teaching staff and they could all get a quick snack on their lunch break. Eve didn’t necessarily mind giving away the pastries, it was just the fact that she had to spend almost an hour looking like she was enjoying conversations on the school curriculum.

She pushed through the doors of the front office and nodded to the receptionist as she moved toward the staff lounge. Eve could hear the chattering from the staff room get louder and louder as she moved through the hallway, she stood at the door and knocked. No one noticed, so Eve just moved to the kitchenette in the corner of the room and set the box of pastries down.

“Eve!”

She turned around to see Gemma smiling a bit too broadly, standing with her hands clasped in front of her. Eve almost felt blinded at the bright patterns of her dress. _Are those cats?_ Eve thought to herself, realising that Gemma’s dress was covered in cats playing with balls of yarn.

“Hi Gemma. How are you?”

“I’m great…. fantastic really!”

“That’s good.” Eve smiled tightly, looking around the room to see if anyone could put her out of her misery. She spotted Niko talking to a couple of guys she vaguely recognised to be the other math teachers. Eve realised then that Gemma had been talking to her and that she had completely missed half of what she was saying. Gemma was looking at her expectantly like she had asked a question.

“Sorry?”

“Oh, I get it! Work stress, am I right?” Gemma awkwardly nudged Eve with her elbow. “I just asked how your marriage is going?”

“Oh, uh,” Eve was taken aback, “I don’t think that’s an appropriate question Gemma. Especially when my husband is your co-worker.”

Eve watched Gemma’s face flush and her eyes widen. “Oh, I’m sorry! I really…I didn’t mean to- I genuinely thought –“

“It’s okay Gemma,” Eve waved her off, quietly enjoying watching Gemma become an anxious mess. She scanned the room again and quickly realised that Villanelle wasn’t there, as her yellow dress was sure to stand out against the sea of beige and white.

“Where’s Miss. Astankova?”

“Oh,” Gemma said, looking around the room and shrugging. “She usually doesn’t have lunch with us, she tutors her students in her classroom.”

“She does that during her break?”

“Yeah well, the school won’t allow her to hold tutoring sessions after school hours, so she does them during lunch times. Not that we mind, a few of us find her a bit… _much_.” Gemma looked over to Niko as she finished her sentence, her gaze softening.

Eve gave Gemma a confused look, unsure to why someone would actively choose to spend time with a home economics teacher who has cats all over her dress over an incredibly fascinating and young language teacher.

“Well, nice talking to you Gemma.” Eve turned and grabbed a small box that she had brought separately to the box of pastries and left the staff room, not even bothering to try and say hi to Niko.

* * *

Eve stood in the hallway where Niko’s classroom was, vaguely remembering that he said that Villanelle’s classroom was down the hall from his. She walked slowly past Niko’s door, and towards the sound of muffled yelling coming from two doors down. 

She stopped at the door concealing the muffled yelling and looked at a sign with multiple languages signifying that it was, in fact, Miss. Astankova’s room.

Eve paused for a moment before reaching up and pulling the elastic from her hair, letting her curls to fall onto her shoulders. She ran a hand through them to give them more volume, hoping that she looked even the slightest bit presentable.

Eve lightly knocked on the door and heard the muffled yelling stop, a few moments later the door opened, and a young boy stood there with a confused look on his face.

“Who are you?”

“I- I’m looking for Miss. Astanvoka?”

The young boy shrugged and led Eve into the room. She looked to the front of the classroom to find Villanelle standing at the whiteboard writing furiously in Spanish.

“As I have said _many_ times before, just adding ‘el’ to the beginning and ‘o’ to the end of every word you say, does _NOT_ mean you are speaking Spanish.” Villanelle’s voice boomed across the classroom. Eve can see now why she heard muffled yelling in the hallway. Villanelle whipped around, brandishing the whiteboard marker like a knife. Her gaze landed on Eve and all of the tension in her body immediately dropped. “Oh, hi Eve.”

“Hi.”

“Get out.” Villanelle said to the few students in the room. “Do the homework or I will be very angry, and you will not like it when I am angry.” The kids all laughed and thanked Villanelle for her time, before quickly filing out of the room.

“What are you doing here, Eve?” Villanelle asked with a quizzical look, she moved so she was sitting at her desk.

“Oh… I just brought you this,” Eve said holding up the box in her hands.

“Come in!” The blonde said happily, her eyes widening at the box in Eve’s hands. “I am sorry you had to see me yelling like that, they are all just _so_ stupid.”

Eve moved into the classroom, chuckling at Villanelle’s words. She leant up against a desk across from her, watching as the blonde pulled out her lunch, which consisted of crackers, cheese, cured meat and tomato. Villanelle bit into her cracker, but stopped for a moment, before pulling two salt and pepper mills out from her desk drawer and cracking them onto her lunch.

Villanelle bit into it again and let out a noise of pleasure. “Oh, so _good._ ”

Eve noticed that she had been staring for too long and cleared her throat, looking away awkwardly.

“What’s in the box?” Villanelle said through her mouth of food, she looked up at Eve with a curious stare, her head resting against her fist.

“Oh uh… it’s a chocolate éclair… Niko was an asshole to you this morning and this is my way of saying… _sorry.”_

“That is okay, Eve,” Villanelle said with a wave, “I am used to men acting that way toward me, I assume that they are just threatened.”

“Yeah…” Eve trailed off, ashamed that her husband was threatened over a young woman being successful. “Still, I’m sorry.”

“Thank you, Eve.” Villanelle said with a smile, she pointed to the box and Eve nodded, watching the blonde quickly open it and bite into the éclair. A deeper moan of pleasure left her mouth, and Eve couldn’t help the wave of warmth that crashed over her at the sound.

“Gemma told me that you do your tutoring lessons during your break?”

“Yes,” Villanelle said through her chewing, she swallowed before continuing. “Some of my students are behind and the school will not let me stay after hours…”

“That’s really nice of you.”

“No, it isn’t.” Villanelle said as a matter of fact, Eve was taken aback by her bluntness. “They are horrible learners and terrible at languages, and I cannot take them being so bad. So, this is more for me then it is for them.”

“Huh, fair enough.” Eve replied, watching as the blonde took another bite of her éclair. “well, if you don’t want to be cutting into your lunch time, you could tutor the kids at the café after school?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I could section off a couple of tables and you could have a few of your students come and sit with you. I could even make you guys complementary milkshakes?”

“Why?”

“What?”

Villanelle narrowed her eyes at Eve, her lips slightly pouting and her brow creasing. “Why would you do this for me?”

“Oh…” Eve stuttered for a moment, not fully understanding why she offered this to Villanelle in the first place. Knowing that Niko disliked her so much, should be reason enough for Eve to stay away from the young teacher. But she couldn’t help feeling drawn to her. “I just know what it’s like to come from another place and not many people understanding you.”

“Is this because I am not having lunch with the other teachers?” Eve nodded slightly, Villanelle let out a bark of a laugh, “I do not like any of them. They are too loud and _very_ boring.”

Eve laughed too, happy to find that someone agrees that Niko’s co-workers were incredibly boring. “Yeah they really are.”

Villanelle beamed at Eve. She swung in her chair for a moment before standing, making Eve crane her neck up just to meet her gaze. “I think I will take you up on your offer, Eve.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Villanelle said, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. “Your café is very nice, and I do like the sound of more milkshakes.”

Eve smiled, following the blonde out of the classroom just as the bell rang. She stood outside and waited for Villanelle to lock up her classroom.

“You don’t have a lesson?”

“I have a spare,” Villanelle explained, while tucking her keys into her bag. “I am going to the library to see if they have any books in French.”

“Oh, so you’re a French teacher too?”

“Yes, I teach all of the languages the school offers.”

“Oh really?” Eve said surprised, “How many are there?”

“Seven.”

“ _Seven?_ ”

“Yes, is that like a big deal or something?” Villanelle asked with a questioning smirk, she turned toward Eve. “Monday?” Eve looked at her blankly for a moment. “For the tutoring session, I will bring my students in on Monday.”

“Oh… yeah!”

“It was nice to see you, Eve,” Villanelle’s voice dropped to an almost whisper. She reached out and twisted one of Eve’s curls around her slender fingers. “You look very beautiful.”

Eve felt her heart skip a beat and watched as the blonde turned on her heel and walked away. She took in a deep breath, trying to rid herself of the fluttering in her stomach from the contact.

“Eve.” Niko’s voice sounded through the hall, she turned to find him standing at his door, keys in hand. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I uh, dropped a pastry to Miss. Astankova. I didn’t want her to be left out.” She moved toward him, crossing her arms over her chest almost defensively.

Niko’s brow furrowed and his moustache down turned, “you didn’t even come to say hi to me.”

“I was going to, but you looked like you were busy with your friends,” Eve said, knowing that it was a poor excuse. Niko looked at her with a disappointing frown. “I’m saying hi, now aren’t I?”

“Yeah…” Niko looked around to see his students lining up for class, “I’ll talk to you more about this when we get home.” He unlocked the classroom door and stalked inside, leaving Eve in the hallway.

* * *

Eve didn’t expect for there to be a fight when Niko got home. She was sitting on the couch drinking wine when he came in and started acting all grumpy. Eve hated when he expected her to know what was wrong, so she just stayed quiet and kept watching TV.

It was after hearing his tenth sigh for the night that she actually asked what was wrong, and that’s when he blew up on her. He was saying that she didn’t understand how hard it was to work with someone like Miss. Astankova, and that he felt that Eve was turning her back on him when he needed her support the most.

“You just don’t understand, Eve!” He yelled, standing over her as she sipped her wine. “She’s infuriating, even Gemma thinks she’s too much!”

“God, Niko,” Eve rubbed the palm of her hand into her eyes, she just didn’t understand why he hated her so much. “She’s just trying to do her job.”

“Well, she doesn’t have to be a smug asshole about it! It’s clear that Gary is devastated, and she just keeps rubbing her success in his face!”

“I just think you’re jealous.” Eve said coolly, standing up from the couch and moving into the kitchen.

“What?”

“I think you’re jealous that she’s a young woman who is good at her job and is succeeding in her field. I know it took you _years_ to become the head of the math department at your school, and you’re just annoyed that she managed to do it before she was thirty.”

Eve knew that she had struck a nerve by looking at the expression on his face. Niko finally shut up, folding in on himself like he always did.

He crossed his arms over his chest and puffed his cheeks out. “Why can’t you just support me on this?”

“Support you in ostracizing another teacher?”

“No – I mean… you know what I mean, Eve.”

Eve set her wine glass down, feeling anger rise up in her chest. She was getting over this conversation quickly, “No, I don’t, Niko. Please tell me what you mean.”

“She’s… she’s an outsider! She’s just come in and is making changes to things that don’t need to be changed!” Niko brought his hands to his hair, tugging on the roots.

“I don’t see how her making changes can impact your life as a _math_ teacher.”

“It’s not that… she just makes people uncomfortable.”

“And her students?” Eve shot back.

“What?”

“Her students…” Eve gesticulated her hand for a moment, “do they find her as annoying as you do?”

“Well… I don’t know,” Niko crossed his arms over his chest defensively. “I do hear a lot of yelling coming from her classroom.”

“But have there been complaints against her?”

“No.”

“Then I don’t see why you dislike her so much, if her students like her then she must be a good teacher.”

Niko sighed heavily before sitting down at the dining table. He dropped his head into his hands, “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Eve rolled her eyes, picking up the bottle of wine on the counter and topping up her glass. _Fuck it_ , she thought to herself and grabbed the whole bottle, moving to go upstairs.

“I’m sorry Eve, I-“

“Leave it, Niko.” She said stiffly, “Save it for therapy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again please leave a comment with your thoughts! I really appreciate the feedback and enjoy reading what you guys have to say! 
> 
> I am running off if Australian time, so I'm posting this chapter pretty late - I still haven't come up with a posting schedule cause my uni course is fucked but I am super keen for this fic and I have a million ideas on how I want it to go
> 
> Also I'm not trying to diss on teachers, I'm actually studying to become one haha


	3. Ferme ta gueule!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for your patience! Sorry this chapter isn't very long And it’s not as good as I’d like it to be, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

The end of the school day couldn’t come fast enough for Villanelle. Usually Monday wasn’t her favourite day of the week, but the anticipation of seeing Eve had caused her heart to beat the tiniest bit faster every time she glanced at her classroom clock and saw that another hour had passed. It was the first day of her tutoring sessions at the café, and Villanelle was more looking forward to seeing Eve than she was actually getting her students to learn something.

Villanelle wasn’t quite sure what these new feelings would lead to. It had been a while since she felt the feeling of excitement in the days leading up to a date. But it wasn’t a date. She was just going to Eve’s coffee shop and tutoring her students – that is all.

She knew what happened the last time she had these feelings, and she didn’t want to have to uproot her life once again. Villanelle loved Paris and her abrupt departure from the city left her feeling empty. She was just starting to like London and didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise her stay here. Not that she was planning on doing anything that could.

When the final school bell rang, signifying the end of the day, Villanelle had basically shooed her final class out of her classroom. She hurriedly reminded a few of her students to meet her at Eve’s café sometime during the afternoon so she could go over their notes with them, and then legged it out the door.

The usual three-minute walk turned into a one-minute walk, as Villanelle wasted no time striding towards the café. She was stopped, however, by two men bickering outside of the shop front. The tall and pasty looking one looked like a nervous wreck, and the shorter one with floppy hair looked to be reassuring him.

Just as Villanelle moved to step around them, she was blocked by the smaller man’s form. “Hey gorgeous.”

She scowled at him, earning herself an even bigger smile. “Can I ask you something?”

“No.”

The one with floppy hair looked at her quizzically, obviously not being used to getting rejected so easily. In no time his seedy smile was back, “I’m going to ask anyway. Do you think it’s okay to ask someone on a date without flowers?”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s just my mate Kenny here,” he slapped the pasty one’s back, “Is wanting to ask one of the fine ladies out in this café, and he is freaking out because he forgot flowers.”

“I don’t care,” Villanelle said furrowing her brow and crossing her arms over her chest.

“See!” He said to the pasty one. _Kenny,_ Villanelle reminded herself. “She doesn’t care that you didn’t get flowers so why would she?”

Villanelle scoffed and finally managed to get around the two men, relishing in the chime of the bell as she pushed the door open. She was instantaneously hit with the sweet smell of baked goods and coffee, making her stop for a moment to take in the cosiness of the space.

Villanelle noticed Eve standing behind the counter, her hair pulled up in a mass of curls, straining out against the hair elastic that kept them at bay. Her face was flushed in the warmth of the café, the tip of her nose as rosy as her cheeks. Today she wore a loose grey shirt that hung loosely off of her frame and a pair of faded jeans under the khaki green apron wrapped around her waist. Villanelle couldn’t help but let her eyes linger on the exposed skin of Eve’s collar bones and the sharp angles of her shoulders.

Her fixation on the older woman was broken when she heard the door behind her open. Villanelle stepped out of the way to allow entry to the two men from before, the tall one breezed past her without a second glance and the short one sent her a wink. Villanelle shot him a glare and watched as they made their way to the counter. She hung back behind them wanting to know who their scene out the front of the shop was about.

“Sorry, we don’t serve smug assholes here,” Eve said in a playfully dismissive tone. Villanelle quirked her eyebrow, seeing that Eve obviously was familiar with these two men.

“Oh, I just wanted to put in a complaint.” Said the floppy haired one.

“Oh, really?” Elena piped up, giving him a pointed stare, a small smile breaking through her schooled features.

“Yeah…” He replied, he leant on the counter resting his head on his hands, “I just find the customer service horrid! I have yet to receive a blow job from either of you fine ladies.”

“Hugo!” Burst out the tall man – _what was his name again? –_ his face burning bright red as both Eve and Elena burst out laughing.

“As I said,” Eve leant over the counter and bopped the short one – presumably Hugo – on the nose, “we don’t serve smug assholes here.”

“Eve you’re killing me!” Hugo clutched his chest and gave Eve his best forlorn look.

“Oh, shut up, Hugo!” Elena flicked a towel at him, making him tick out his tongue at her.

At that Villanelle moved further into the shop, now noticing how three tables at the back of the store had been pushed together, with a few chairs surrounding them. Realising that it must have been the space that Eve set aside for her, she put her bag down on the table and started to pull out her laptop.

“Villanelle!” The blonde turned to find Eve coming toward her, a warm smile spread across her features. “I’m so glad you came!”

“Hi, Eve,” Villanelle smiled, unconsciously straightening her gait and tucking her hands into her pant pockets almost lazily. She couldn’t help but allow her eyes to sweep up Eve’s frame, taking her in once again. Villanelle let out a slow breath, barely recognising the hitch in Eve’s. “How are you?”

“Oh, I, I’m good… busy day.” Eve said reaching up and touching the back of her head. Villanelle’s eyes watched her movements, almost willing Eve to let her hair down. And almost as if she had communicated to her telepathically, Eve pulled the elastic out of her hair and let her curls cascade over her shoulders. “How- How are you?”

Villanelle couldn’t help the small smirk that twitched up on her lip. She tilted her head to the side, “I am good. I am glad to see you.”

Eve blushed at that; ducking her head slightly as she smiled. Villanelle watched her closely, her eyes tracing the fine features of the older woman’s face. Eve cleared her throat, breaking the brief moment of silence between them.

“Do you want to order something? Strawberry milkshake?”

Villanelle’s eyes widened at this, her tongue darting out to lick her lips as she gave Eve a wide smile. She noticed how Eve’s eyes watched the action, so she took the calculative decision to lightly bite into her bottom lip, leaving Eve to stare at her lips for a moment before darting her eyes away quickly.

“Hmmm,” Villanelle pondered, she tapped a finger to her chin as if she was in deep thought and squinted at the menu board behind Eve. “I think I will have the iced cinnamon spiced latte with maple whipped cream please.”

“Okay! Coming right up!” Eve said with a smile, turning away from Villanelle and quickly moving back behind the counter.

The blonde sat down at the table, opening up her laptop and pulling up the exercise that she planned for her students that afternoon. She couldn’t help but keep looking up every few minutes, watching as Eve moved around the café. One moment she was ringing up a customers’ food or book bill, then she was waiting tables, next she was chatting animatedly with Elena over the whirr of the machines. But the one thing that Villanelle kept noticing the most was the quick glances Eve was sneaking, every time she moved onto a new job, she would steal a sneaking glance at the blonde. Sometimes Villanelle noticed them out of the corner of her eye, but mostly she was already looking at Eve, causing them to hold eye contact for a fleeting moment before Eve went back to her task at hand.

Villanelle was relishing in the attention. She knew she looked good today, she made sure to for this exact reason. She wore comfortable – but sexy – black pants, with a tight white shirt that dipped low enough that left a lot to the imagination but wasn’t promiscuous enough to be inappropriate for work, her dr. martens and a green bomber jacket to top it off. She looked casual enough for it to look effortless but had that flair of fashionable edginess that she loved.

As Villanelle and Eve’s eyes met once again across the café, Elena set Villanelle’s overly sweet whipped cream monstrosity down in front of her. “Iced cinnamon spiced coffee with maple cream, for Villanelle. It’s on the house.” She said to Villanelle with a smile.

“Oh, thank you! But I am more than happy to pay,” Villanelle waved off, picking up her drink and talking a long sip, relishing in the cinnamon-y sweetness.

“Trust me, on that teachers wage you can have as much free shit as you want!” Elena said, making Villanelle chuckle. It was a moment before Elena noticed the plain black Balenciaga bag sitting on the table, its contents spilling across the table. “Jesus fucking Christ! How the fuck did you afford that?”

Villanelle laughed, “My uncle bought it for me. I do not like it much, I have bags at home I like more, so I just use it for work.”

Elena’s eyes widened at his, looking between Villanelle and the bag. “Does your uncle perhaps want a sugar baby?” At this Villanelle let out a bark of a laugh, slamming her hand on the table, causing her drink to spill a bit.

“My uncle is old and fat, trust me you do _not_ want to go there.”

“If I get a fifteen-hundred-dollar bag out of it then sign me the fuck up.” The two girls kept laughing, causing other customers to look over to see what the fuss was about. Eventually, Elena went back to her job, making a comment to Eve about how she needed to _“jump on that rich old guy dick”._

At some point in the afternoon Villanelle’s students turned up, all ordering something small before joining her at the table and starting their work. Villanelle walked them through French, explaining the basics of the language. She had them all practice their annunciation before slightly correcting their inconsistencies, explaining how the French had an almost slurred sound to their words.

As her tutoring lesson progressed, Villanelle noticed Eve hovering around their table as she worked. Her head slightly tweaking at the sound of Villanelle’s French. At this Villanelle amped it up and started to do basic sentences that required a bit more skill, not that she was going to teach her students anything inappropriate, she _never_ would do that. She just wanted to show off a little, that’s all. Her plan worked. Eve would loiter for a second longer every time Villanelle replied to her students in French, her lips twitching up in a barely visible smile.

The feelings started flaring up in Villanelle’s chest, causing her to trip up one of her sentences, making her students chuckle at her. She snapped at them, causing them to stifle their laugher to giggles. Villanelle didn’t want to let them know that she also found it a little bit funny too, so she shot them a glare, causing them to stop completely. She glanced at Eve, who had a smile on her lips, obviously finding the interaction funny. Villanelle smiled back at her.

“Ooooh, Miss. Astankova is smiling!” Her student Jeremy said, causing the other kids to start teasing her.

“ _Ferme ta gueule_!” Villanelle said angrily, making her students laugh. “I am allowed to use my face muscles! You stupid _petite merdes_.”

“Hey what does that mean!?” One of the other students, Ellie, asked.

“None of your business,” Villanelle said sticking her tongue out at them. They harassed Villanelle a little longer, trying to get her to tell them what she said. She wasn’t going to tell them that she told them to ‘shut the fuck up’ or that they were ‘little shits’, she knew that their parents wouldn’t be too happy knowing that their child’s language teacher was swearing at them in French.

“Our lesson is over anyway, so I do not have to tell you anything,” Villanelle said glancing at her watch and throwing her arms up victoriously. She was right, their hour of tutoring was up already. Her students moaned, but eventually conceded, quickly saying their goodbyes and heading out of the café and leaving Villanelle alone at the table.

As Villanelle began to pack up her mess of papers and highlighters, her attention was caught by Eve leaning her hip against the table. “Those weren’t very nice words.”

Villanelle touched a hand to her chest and did her best to look shocked, “you know French!”

“Only from what I learnt in high school, though my teacher wasn’t as… _aggressive_ as you.”

“I am not aggressive, I am passionate,” Villanelle quipped, shrugging her shoulders with an innocent smile.

Eve laughed, giving Villanelle a knowing look. “I can see that your students like you a lot.”

“No, they do not, they hate my guts, they told me so.”

“Nah, they like you a lot,” Eve said, tucking a stray bit of hair behind her ear, “And I can tell that you like them too.”

Villanelle tried to hold back her smile, schooling her features and pouting slightly. “You are right, what is not to like? I am amazing.”

“Yeah you are!” Eve laughed, involuntarily resting her hand on Villanelle’s. They froze for a moment at the contact, but it was enough for them to feel the electric sensation of their touch. Villanelle could feel the familiar feeling welling up in her chest. She caught herself just in time, remembering the events in Paris and pulled her hand away. Leaving Eve to look away like nothing had happened.

“You guys must be closing soon!” Villanelle exclaimed, looking at the time. It was close to five, and most of their customers had already vacated the café, except for the two men from before.

“Actually, Villanelle, I was going to ask if you wanted to stay back after we close? Elena, the guys and I were going to have a glass of wine and just hang out for a bit, y’know. Gives me a bit more time away from Niko.” Eve chuckled for a second before catching herself, “Please don’t tell him I said that.”

“You will not hear a word from me,” Villanelle said while making a zipping motion across her mouth, making Eve breathe a sigh of relief. “And yes, I would love to stay for some drinks. Would you like me to go get some wine?”

“Great! Well if you really want to… we only really have the cheapest shit Tesco could give us,” Eve replied, scratching her arm self-consciously.

“I will be back with some _good_ wine,” Villanelle said decisively, picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

“Nothing too expensive!” Eve called after her as Villanelle went to exit the store.

“I am not buying anything under 30 pounds, Eve!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading guys! I have a lot going on at the moment with uni and stuff, but I am trying my best with updating regularly 
> 
> I have a vision for this fic I just need a way of getting it there - Villaneve is in the near future so just you guys wait! :) 
> 
> Please leave a comment to let me know your thoughts! They really are my fuel for this fic and are what keeps me going xx
> 
> Hopefully the next chapter will be a bit longer x


	4. Wine Night

It was their ninth wine night in a month.

Ever since the first one with Villanelle, Elena and Hugo kept harassing Eve to invite her again. Not that Eve needed to be told twice. She was glad that they noticed what Eve could see so clearly in Villanelle, the attraction of her character. She was funny, beautiful, dangerously smart and was a downright arrogant asshole. And Eve loved it.

Villanelle was unbelievably interesting, she had stories from all over the world, had done things that most people in their twenties – or in their lifetime – would have never dreamed of doing. Every time Villanelle would go off on a tangent about one of her adventures Eve, Elena and Hugo would all give her their undivided attention, enamoured by her way of speaking and her gusto in storytelling.

 _It must be the accent,_ Eve thought to herself, as she watched Villanelle carefully. Her eyes would flit around the blonde woman’s delicate features, tracing her high cheekbones and the wide shape of her cat like eyes. Mainly they would settle on her lips, full and pink, wrapping around her words purposefully but delicately. Eve could never help how her breath would hitch when Villanelle’s tongue would swipe out and pull her bottom lip so her teeth could sink into it. _It’s just the accent._

These wine nights had become an escape for Eve. They were once something that would only occur once every couple of months, mainly just with Bill and Elena. Then Bill moved away when he retired to go travelling with his wife and daughter, and then it was just Elena and Eve. Once Hugo and Kenny started to become regulars and eventually good friends, the wine nights picked up once again. Kenny opting more for ciders or light beers and Hugo bringing whatever expensive spirit he swiped from his parent’s liquor cabinet. Sometimes Eve thought that this almost thirty-year-old man acted more like a seventeen-year-old. But she loved their company, Kenny was the right mixture of sincere and awkward to be able take a joke, and Hugo was just an unbearable but loveable dickhead. Eve could tell Elena had a soft spot for Kenny, and she knew it was reciprocated.

Eve, however, had a tough time justifying to Niko why she needed to have so many wine nights. He didn’t understand what the appeal was in sitting in the café after close and just getting plastered. Eve suspected that he was just a little jealous that she had friends that wanted to hang out with her after work. All of Niko’s co-workers – besides Gemma – had families, partners to go home to and children to look after, hobbies to fulfill or chores to get done. Eve spent so little time in their home she barely had to clean up after herself, and Niko didn’t have any hobbies besides reading. They didn’t have any children to look after– thank god – much to Niko’s disappointment, but they did have a chicken that took minimal effort to upkeep. They were _happily_ boring. Playing pretend when they had to spend time together, bottling up their emotions and saving them for their weekly therapy sessions.

This was exactly why Eve needed the wine nights, so she didn’t have to pretend that she was happy with being boring. So, she didn’t feel like she was imploding with the thought of living like this for the rest of her night. Niko could never stop Eve from having her wine night. He would have to pry it from her cold dead hands.

He did try though, he tried to get her to close the café earlier, tried to get her to drop to only four days a week of working. She couldn’t imagine anything worse: lounging around for three days, waiting for Niko to come home and doting on him. That’s what he wanted; he wanted a caring wife. Eve once said to him that if he wanted that he should’ve just married his mother. That was a pretty low blow, but she was proud of it. She could admit to herself that she was a workaholic, but she would never _ever_ admit it to Niko.

The café was Eve’s baby, it was her pride and joy. But still there was something missing. She loved her job, loved her customers and loved her business partner, but Eve never wanted to be a café owner, she wanted to be a psychologist. This was only supposed to be a temporary job when she arrived in London, she was going to put her degree to good use and try becoming a criminal psychologist. That plan never came to fruition, but Eve just gets on with it.

“What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours, Eve?”

“Hm?” Hugo’s words pulled Eve out of her thoughts, she blinked for a moment and then took a long sip of her wine. “Just thinking about stuff.”

“What stuff?” Hugo pushed, resting his head in his hand. They sat around one of the tables, chairs haphazardly placed around it so they all could fit. They all watched her, Kenny, Elena, Hugo and Villanelle.

“Oh y’know… Niko and work.” Eve fiddled with the stem of her wine glass, keeping her gaze focused on it. “He’s just stressed about stuff.”

“Yeah no shit.” Villanelle snorted. “He is not exactly hiding it at work either.”

Eve groaned, dropping her head back and rubbing her face with her hands. “I am so sorry, Villanelle. He’s such… he’s such-“

“A man child?”

“Overgrown moustache?”

Both Elena and Hugo offered at the same time, making Eve laugh.

“Yeah… I just can’t believe that he acts like that at work.”

“He is not like that with everyone,” Villanelle said, as if to reassure Eve. “Just me.”

Eve threw her hands up in defeat. “That makes it so much worse!”

The group chuckled as Eve had a mini crisis. She couldn’t handle her husband sometimes, she felt that he hadn’t matured past the twenty-six-year-old that she married.

Eve felt a hand rest on hers and looked up to find Villanelle reaching across the table, she squeezed Eve’s hand reassuringly. “Do not worry, Eve, I piss him off just as much as he pisses off me.”

“I know,” Eve chuckled, trying to force the buzz of excitement in her stomach at their contact. “He won’t shut up about it.”

Villanelle winked at her, squeezing her hand lightly. Eve could feel wave of warmth crash over her, she smiled at Villanelle across the table, her eyes meeting hazel. They contact lapsed for a moment and then Villanelle awkwardly pulled her hand away.

“I have an announcement,” Kenny exclaimed suddenly, his hand gripping his drink and his eyes glued to the table in front of him.

“Well get on with it,” Hugo pressed, taking a long drawn out sip of his drink.

“I’ve been approached by a gallery, and they want to display my work.”

The table erupted as Eve, Elena and Hugo basically jumped on Kenny to give him their congratulations. Kenny sat there with a small smile on his features, a blush glowing on his cheeks.

“When? Where? Who?” Elena pressed, her eyes widening as she clapped her hands together excitedly.

“It will be in November, at Twelve Galleries, you know that really fancy place?”

“Isn’t that across from the place where Hugo almost got hit by a taxi?” Eve questioned, both Kenny and Elena nodded, Hugo ducked his head in embarrassment.

“That is amazing Kenny,” Elena said softly, she reached out and rested her hand on his arm. Eve could practically see both of them buzzing at the contact. She then secretly hoped she wasn’t that obvious when Villanelle was holding her hand only moments ago.

“Thank you,” Kenny smiled at Elena. He faltered for a moment, before slowly placing his hand over Elena’s. “I was just wondering if you would like to be my… partner to the opening night?”

“Partner?” Elena looked at him confused.

“Not partn-“

“He’s asking if you would like to be his date.” Hugo butted in, clearly knowing where Kenny was going with it.

“Oh yes of course!” Elena exclaimed, she looked at Kenny softly, “I would love to.”

They smiled at each other, leaving Eve, Hugo and Villanelle to just sit there for a moment.

“Oh! You are all invited too!” Kenny said hurriedly, a sheepish smile spreading across his features.

“Invited to what?”

The group whipped around to find Niko standing at the door of the café, they were obviously too distracted to have even hear the bell jingle.

“Niko!” Hugo exclaimed; Eve shot him a glare knowing that one of Hugo’s favourite things to do was to stir up her husband. No wonder he liked Villanelle so much.

 _Villanelle,_ Eve’s eyes widened as she looked at her husband and looked back to the blonde, who seemed to be eyeing each other off. Niko’s face was practically burning red and Villanelle just sat there lazily sipping her overly expensive wine.

“Hi, darling.” Eve said, her voice straining over the quietness of the room.

“What are we invited to?” Niko ignored her greeting, staring at Villanelle still.

“Kenny has a gallery opening in November and he has asked us all to come to the opening night,” Elena explained, her gaze shifting between Eve, Niko and Villanelle.

“That’s great, Kenny,” Niko said, his eyes now breaking off of Villanelle and a forced smile forming under his moustache.

Eve got up from her chair, moving toward her husband. She turned back to the group, “You guys carry on.”

For a moment, Eve locked eyes with Villanelle. She could see a glint in them as they hardened slightly, _jealousy?_

“Let’s go outside Niko.”

The nip of the cool night air hit Eve as she opened the shop doors, she wrapped her cardigan tighter around her as she turned to her husband.

“What are you doing here?”

“It was getting late and I thought I should check on you.”

“It’s eight thirty.” Eve looked at Niko pointedly. Usually she would get home around ten on their wine nights, and Niko knew that, he was just deciding to make a scene out of nothing. “Really, Niko, what are you doing here?”

Niko’s gait straightened as he looked at Eve, she could see that he was getting upset and she honestly did not have the energy to deal with this bullshit tonight. But the four glasses of wine in her system seemed to be egging her on for a fight.

“I, I – just,” Niko started, shifting back and forth on his feet. “We just never spend any time together! And with all these wine nights I thought… I thought-“

“You thought I was cheating on you?” Eve said, the realisation finally dawning on her. She couldn’t stop the bark of laughter that escaped her chest, Niko looked at her incredulously, obviously offended at her reaction. “Who did you think I was fucking? Kenny?”

“Not Kenny…”

“Hugo?” The look on Niko’s face was confirmation enough, leading to Eve letting out another bark of laughter. “Oh my god!”

“Can you not for one second think this is funny, Eve?” Niko suddenly burst, causing the laughter to die in Eve’s chest. She looked at him properly this time, squaring her shoulders and willing herself to stand steady. Maybe she was tipsier than she thought.

“Can you not see how this is concerning? I mean I barely get to see my wife because she’s working all the time, and when she has free time she chooses to go off with her friends. How could I _not_ think you were cheating on me? You’re never home!”

“Oh, come on Niko,” Eve threw her hands up, feeling the dramatic flair of the wine take over. “You honestly think that I’m cheating on you? I hang out with a bunch of twenty-year-old’s, I highly doubt any of them would be interested in a woman nearing her forties.”

Niko huffed his chest out and crossed his arms, going into the defensive stance he takes when he knows he’s wrong. Eve could tell there was something else bothering him at the way he wouldn’t look at her, his eyes skirted around, landing on anything but her.

“You’re upset about Villanelle, aren’t you?”

“Villanelle, huh?” Niko practically spat, “You’re on a first name basis?”

“Of course, I am Niko! What? Was I going to call her Miss. Astankova every time I saw her?”

Niko avoided eye contact once more and grunted. He was obviously finished with this conversation, so Eve moved to go back inside. She was stopped however by his hand on her arm.

“Please come home with me, Eve. I just want to spend time with my wife.”

She stopped and turned to look at him, their eyes finally meeting. His looked strained, silently pleading with her. Eve ignored it.

“Go read a book Niko,” She said quietly, feeling his hand leave her arm. He stepped back from her, as she reached for the handle of the door. “I’ll be home later tonight, don’t wait up for me.”

* * *

“That’s called projection, love.” Elena said decidedly, wagging her finger at Eve as she took a sip of her wine. “I read about it on an Instagram post.”

“What do you mean projection?” Eve leaned back in her chair, taking a sip of her own topped up glass. Eve had re-joined the group, after her little spat with Niko she thought it best to keep the night going, but not before recounting her conversation with Niko to the group.

“It’s what cheaters do when they’re cheating,” Elena explained, “they get insecure about their _activities,_ so they project their feelings onto their partner and make their partner feel shit, even though they have done nothing wrong.”

“So, you’re saying Niko is cheating on me?” Eve asked quizzically.

At that Hugo burst into laughter, banging the table with his fist. “Who would want to sleep with that?” Eve looked at Hugo with a blank expression, causing him to drop his laughter before saying, “besides you, Eve, of course.”

“I’m not saying he’s cheating, but I am saying he’s _cheating_ … you get what I mean?” Elena tried to explain poorly, the wine obviously slurring her words and thoughts.

Eve chuckled at that, not understanding a word that was coming out of Elena’s mouth.

“Are you?”

The words rung out in the room, causing everyone to go silent. Eve turned to the person who spoke them, her eyes meeting hazel as she regarded them.

Villanelle had a questioning smile playing on her full lips, daring Eve to answer her question.

“I don’t understand.”

“She’s asking if you are cheating on Niko.” Hugo interjected, obviously thriving off the turn in conversation.

“I’m not.”

“That’s no surprise,” Villanelle said, leaning back in her chair. Her eyes glinted in the low light of the café, regarding Eve with an easy stare. “You are very beautiful Eve, you could have anyone, so why _him_?”

“Excuse me?” Eve said, her cheeks flushing. She could feel a wave of embarrassment and anger wash over her. She looked at the blonde incredulously, _what is she getting at?_

“She’s right you know, Eve.” Elena said, nodding her head in agreement. “You are so sexy with your hair and your rockin’ bod, you could have _anyone_.”

Eve felt her embarrassment heighten and her anger wane a bit. She still held herself rigidly, feeling defensive over her husband even though she was bad mouthing him five minutes beforehand. “I don’t think so.”

“You do have _amazing_ hair,” Villanelle said quietly, a smile breaking across her features. Eve couldn’t help the tightness in her chest at the compliment, she gave Villanelle a small smile.

“How about you, Villanelle?” Hugo interrupted, leaning across the table and resting his head on his arms. “Does a lucky man get to have you in his life?”

For a fraction of a second Eve felt herself hold her breath waiting for the answer, but the tension left her body when Villanelle answered almost immediately, “No.”

The blonde kept her gaze on Eve, almost as if she could read every thought that entered her head. Eve felt her cheeks redden under her gaze.

“No?” Hugo questioned, his voice raising in curiosity. “Surely you have a man you are seeing, hmm? Let me guess, rich, office job, fancy car, big house.”

“Nope.” Villanelle said coolly, cocking her head to the side and giving Hugo a smirk.

“You have to stop pulling my leg!” Hugo said exasperatedly, “C’mon you really think I’m that thick? You’re lying to me.”

Villanelle chuckled. Eve watched as she sipped her wine, how she savoured the flavour of the expensive liquid and slowly swallowed it. Eve had to rip her eyes away from the blonde, scared that she was going to be caught staring.

“Villanelle, please,” Hugo reached across and placed his hands-on Villanelle’s, giving her the most earnest look, he could muster. “You don’t have to be embarrassed if he’s isn’t rich.”

“Hugo, I do not have a man.” Villanelle said finally, causing Hugo to let out a grunt. He leaned back in his chair, looking like he wasn’t believing a word that Villanelle was saying.

“Good then,” Hugo said with a small smile, “I can have you all to my se-“

“I am a lesbian.”

Hugo didn’t get to finish his sentence because he was too busy gawking at Villanelle’s words. Eve’s eyes widened as she looked between the two, finally settling on the blonde. Something stirred in Eve’s chest at Villanelle’s words, she felt her skin go hot and her cheeks flush red at the thought of Villanelle with other women. Eve quickly took a gulp of wine, wishing the images away.

“Ha!” Elena exclaimed, “I knew she had good taste! All men are trash babe, trust me.”

“Hey!” Kenny and Hugo both exclaimed at the same time.

“What?” Elena asked, “I’m just quoting Lizzo!”

* * *

Elena and Kenny had to basically carry Hugo out of the café, as they usually did at the end of every wine night. They all said their slurred goodbyes and departed, leaving Eve and Villanelle alone.

Eve rubbed her palms into her eyes, sighing into them. She ran her hands through her hair and looked up to Villanelle who watched her silently. Eve felt a flutter in her chest as they made eye contact.

“It’s getting late,” Eve said, glancing at the time on her phone. It was past ten o’clock and she knew that Niko would have gone to bed by now. But the idea of having to go home to him made Eve feel sick to her stomach. She had to address this in therapy.

“Hmm.” Villanelle leaned onto the table; her eyes looked tired as she ran a hand through her golden hair. Eve couldn’t help but watch the action, watching the way the dim light caught in the golden strands, how it fell so effortlessly on her shoulders.

“What languages can you speak?”

“German, French, Spanish, Italian, English, Russian and a little bit of Mandarin.” Villanelle replied, “I am still learning Mandarin though.”

“When did you have time to learn all of this?”

“I was what is called a ‘prodigy’ child,” Villanelle said, using air quotes around the word ‘prodigy’. “I finished my secondary schooling when I was sixteen and went to college for language and law studies.”

“So, you’re a qualified lawyer?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you a teacher?

“I got bored of being a lawyer,” Villanelle said lazily, “It was not stimulating enough, my Uncle Konstantin says I am too hot headed to work with so many people. He says I am better off bossing people around. So, I became a teacher.”

“So, you did all this before the age of twenty-five?”

“Twenty-four actually,” the blonde smiled smugly.

“Wow,” Eve said raising her eyebrows. She knew that Villanelle was intelligent but not _that_ intelligent. No wonder Niko was so threatened by her, he must feel unbelievably inferior to her.

“Did you study?” It was Villanelle’s turn to ask a question.

“Yeah, criminal psychology.”

“Oh,” Villanelle’s eyes lit up at that, “did you like it?”

“I loved it,” Eve admitted.

“Then why are you not a criminal psychologist.”

Eve gestured around her, “I started this when I got here from Connecticut, and then I met Niko and you know…”

“A man should never stop you from achieving your goals.”

“Well that motto works for you doesn’t it?”

Villanelle snorted at that, she looked at Eve with a soft smile and Eve felt herself reciprocating it. 

“Tell me about your family,” Eve said, realising that Villanelle never really divulged any information about her family, other than the rare mention of her uncle.

Villanelle paused for a moment, mulling her thoughts over in her head before answering. “My parents did not want me. I have an older brother, Pytor, that they adore and when I was born I just kind of got in the way. So, my uncle took me in.”

Eve looked at Villanelle with a shocked expression, seeing that there was no emotion behind her words. She was entirely indifferent.

“My uncle was poor when he took me in, but eventually he became a very successful lawyer and eventually opened up his own practice. He started to give me everything I wanted and needed, and my parents magically wanted me back. I said no of course, I did not want to go back to people who never wanted me in the first place.”

“So that’s why you studied law? For your uncle?”

“Yes,” Villanelle replied, a fond smile forming on her lips. “I wanted to make him proud of me, but I realised he is proud of me no matter what. He is also proud of the fact that I managed to buy a thirty percent share of his practice.”

“Wow, you must make a lot from that.”

“I do. My uncle is a very straight forward man, he never loses his cases and that means there is always money coming in.”

Eve chuckled at that. Hearing Villanelle open up about her family had made her start to feel warm. It was nice hearing something about Villanelle, other than her crazy adventures. It grounded the image Eve had in her head from this unobtainable being, to an approachable and interesting woman.

Eve smiled leaning forward. Villanelle mirrored her action, leaving them to only be centimetres from each other.

“I like hearing about your family.”

“I like you asking about it.”

Villanelle reached out and tucked a strand of Eve’s hair behind her ear. “You have such beautiful hair.”

“You already said that,” Eve breathed, her gaze moving between Villanelle’s eyes and lips.

“I know.” Villanelle’s fingers moved from Eve’s hair and traced her cheekbone, moving down to her jaw. Eve took a sharp intake of breath, feeling her skin buzz at the trail of Villanelle’s fingertips.

Eve didn’t know if it was the wine or the lighting or how unbelievably attractive Villanelle looked, but she shifted forward and pressed her lips against the blonde’s.

For a moment Villanelle didn’t do anything, but just as quickly her hand moved into Eve’s hair once more and pulled herself into the kiss. She couldn’t get over how Villanelle’s lips felt against her own, the swipe of her tongue across her bottom lip, her hands in Eve’s hair tugging at the roots. Eve let out a low moan, feeling her head go fuzzy.

They broke apart, their eyes locked together.

“You’re really good at that.” Eve breathed, trying to settle her heart that was thudding in her chest.

Villanelle smiled softly, “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for reading, here is a little bit of a longer chapter for ya'll :) I'm hoping to get this fic moving at a faster pace now cause I love my two ladies and i just want them together! 
> 
> Thank you all so much for your kind words on my last chapter, honestly your words give me the boost I need to keep writing!
> 
> Please leave a comment if you're feeling fancy, I really do appreciate reading your thoughts <3


	5. The Wrong Impression

Villanelle had not seen Eve since the wine night from the week before. She was still buzzing from their last contact, as Eve’s kiss was burned into her memory. She could still remember everything so vividly: the lighting of the café, the way Eve’s eyes looked into hers, how Eve’s hair felt as she ran her hands through it. The taste of her lips. The sound of her moan.

The last wine night gave Villanelle plenty of fuel when it was late, and she couldn’t get herself to sleep. She would trail her hand down and relieve her of herself of the building tension. It was hard for Villanelle to stop her feelings, Eve was a force to be reckoned with, not that she could see how incredible she was. So, she did what she did best, forced the memory to the back of her mind during the day, and relive it during the night, usually with an orgasm.

Surprisingly enough, the hardest part of this all was keeping a straight face around Niko. Villanelle had to keep biting her tongue every time he would make a snide remark to her over lunch or would talk over her during a meeting. Villanelle would just sit back and let Niko have his fun, knowing full well that she had the power to destroy his marriage. Not that she needed to, he was doing that all by himself.

That is what Villanelle did not understand about this situation. Here was Eve, a sexy, funny, intelligent and successful woman, who had a thirst for life and a spark in her that showed Villanelle that she wanted _more_. And here was Niko, a man so bland that his beige wardrobe did more to reflect his personality than his actual personality did. Villanelle just didn’t get it, and she hoped she could make Eve understand. But the last time she did that, she had to uproot her life and start all over again.

It was Friday and lunch time had rolled around. Villanelle waited patiently in her classroom, checking her watch every few minutes. Eve had started to drop a pastry to her every Friday, a new one each week. Though, this time Eve seemed to be late.

Villanelle checked her watch once more and decided to go to the teachers lounge. It was no big deal if Eve didn’t come today, Villanelle would see her when she brought her students in for tutoring that afternoon. She packed her things and left for the teachers’ lounge, having to remind herself where it was because she hadn’t stepped foot in it since her first day at the school.

As Villanelle walked through the door of the teachers’ lounge, she was met by a barrage of laughter. She quirked her head at the noise and her gaze shifted to the couches at the far end of the room. She couldn’t see who was causing the fuss as majority of the staff were crowded around the area.

Villanelle rolled her eyes and moved to the kitchenette, pulling her mug and her portable coffee press out of her bag. She would rather die than drink whatever instant coffee monstrosity the school had provided them.

As she was setting up her coffee press, she heard someone cough behind her. Villanelle didn’t have to even turn around to know that it was the small annoying one with unbearably bright clothes. Villanelle knew her wardrobe was colourful, but at least it was tasteful.

“Miss. Astankova.”

Villanelle turned around to face her, her name just on the tip of her tongue.

“Hello Miss…”

“Collins… You can just call me Gemma.”

“That is okay Miss. Collins. I would rather if we were not on a first name basis.”

Gemma looked at Villanelle with a surprised expression, obviously taken aback at her bluntness. She sputtered for a moment before Villanelle turned back to her coffee press.

“It’s nice to see you in the lunchroom.”

Villanelle barked out a laugh. She didn’t even have to look at Gemma to know that was a lie. Gemma shifted uncomfortably behind her.

“Did you get one of the pastries Eve brought in? I swear they get better every time I have one.”

Villanelle whipped around and narrowed her eyes at Gemma, “Eve came by today?”

“Well, yes she’s right over there.” Gemma pointed to the crowd of people on the other side of the room, and Villanelle’s gaze followed. At that moment the group of people shifted and showed Eve and Niko standing together in the middle, laughing.

Villanelle felt her chest seize at the sight, as Niko was standing casually with his arm draped over Eve’s shoulder and she was looking up at him with a bright smile, absentmindedly playing with his hand.

She could hear Niko telling some story about meeting Eve’s parents for the first time and Eve was laughing along to it. Villanelle could tell the laugh was a little forced, as Eve’s head was thrown back a bit too far and her smile was too strained. Villanelle knew that Eve never faked a laugh when they were together, she never had to, Villanelle was hilarious.

Villanelle’s gaze shifted back to Gemma, her expression had turned from shocked to stony in an instant, her eyes hardening and her lips curling up into a scowl. Gemma’s eyes widened; she wrung her hands together over her sparkly shirt.

“I hate your outfit.” Villanelle said bluntly as she moved swiftly past Gemma, she heard a small gasp come from the woman and smirked.

As she walked towards the other side of the room, the other teachers turned to look at her some smiling and others turning away from her. She spotted the other language teacher Gary standing next to Niko, his beady eyes were narrowed on her. Villanelle shot him a sickeningly sweet smile.

“Hi Gary,” She said smoothly, coming to a stop in front of the group. Gray regarded her with an uneasy smile, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I was just wondering how the assignments are going with your German class?”

“Oh, they are going well,” Gary swallowed, his eyes refusing to stay on Villanelle for more than a second at a time. “No issues there, all the students seem to be doing quite well.”

“Good,” Villanelle smiled, now shifting her attention to Niko, trying her hardest to not let her gaze to fall onto Eve.

“So, Niko,” Villanelle began, her voice staying steady and cool, “I am not sure if Henway told you, but I will be helping you with the Halloween dance preparation.”

Niko’s moustache twitched at this, a telling sign that he was caught off guard. Villanelle had to conceal her glee, knowing that she pissed him off. He smiled through his obvious annoyance, “No I wasn’t aware, but I’m sure we will work well together as a team. I have already started making plans for it.”

“Oh, there is no need,” Villanelle waved him off, “I have already handed my plans in to Henway and he has approved them, all I just need you to do is follow the itinerary I wrote up. I will be organising the food.”

Niko gawked at Villanelle for a moment. She smiled at him steadily, happily knowing that she just thwarted any plans he had for the night. At that Villanelle finally turned to Eve, taking in her in for the first time. She found it difficult trying to keep her gaze off of Eve throughout her interaction with Niko as Eve looked adorable today, with her hair piled up messily into a bun, a pair of glasses perched on her nose, and a loose white shirt French-tucked into her jeans. Villanelle dug her fingernails into her palms, trying to will the images of their wine night out of her mind.

When their eyes met Villanelle stopped for a moment letting her gaze trail down to Eve’s lips. She couldn’t help but absentmindedly bite into her bottom lip. Villanelle noticed the way Eve’s eyes watched the action, blinking slowly.

“Hi, Eve.” Villanelle said softly, her demeanour shifting in an instant.

“Villanelle,” Eve said coolly. Something wasn’t right, Villanelle could tell. Her heart started beating faster in her chest, think back to their last encounter. _Did I do something wrong?_

Villanelle pushed the thought to the back of her mind, “I was hoping that I could ask you if you and Elena were able to do the food for the Halloween dance?”

“I don’t see how that would be an issue. Just drop in an order two weeks before the date and we should be able to organise that for you,” Eve said too formally, she firmly grasped Niko’s hand that was draped over her shoulder. Niko smiled down at her, obviously happy that she was so willingly giving him affection. Villanelle wanted to vomit.

“That is excellent,” Villanelle nodded, plastering a smile onto her face, hoping that it could hide the confusion she was feeling.

She didn’t know what Eve was playing at. Last time they saw each other Eve seemed all too happy to instigate a kiss between them. There was alcohol involved and both of them were way past the tipsy stage. But it had building up for a while, the stolen glances, the not so subtle flirting on both of their parts. And now Eve is being distant, turning away from Villanelle to her husband that she obviously disliked? Villanelle felt like she had whiplash from the situation.

“I will see you this afternoon then, I have a couple students wanting to get caught up on their Italian homework.”

“Cool,” Eve nodded, averting her eyes from Villanelle. “I’ll see you then.”

With that Villanelle smiled and turned away, letting her face drop into a scowl.

* * *

Villanelle couldn’t help but be fiddly the whole time she was tutoring her students. It was hard to stay focused on the task at hand when Eve was so blatantly ignoring her.

Her students didn’t seem to notice which was good, they were picking up on her pointers easily and were responding well when she was asking them questions in Italian. Villanelle was proud of them; they were hard little workers and soon they would be able to carry full conversations with ease.

“No, no, no, Caleb,” Villanelle said, concealing her laugh, “it is ‘ _anno’_ not ‘ _ano’._ ”

“What did I just say?” Caleb looked at her with a confused expression.

“You just said the word ‘anus’ instead of the word ‘year’,” She explained, watching his face go bright red in embarrassment. The two other students laughed. “This is a great example of why you _need_ to practice your annunciation, because you do not want to tell people to have a ‘happy new _anus’.”_

This caused her students to all burst out into laughter, causing Villanelle to laugh along with them. She checked her watch and saw that they were running 15minutes over their session time. She packed up her things, assigning annunciation homework to her students, hoping that there would be an improvement by the next time they saw her.

Her students waved goodbye to her as they left the café, Villanelle waved back. Once they were out of sight, she let out a big sigh and slumped back in her chair. As much as she loved seeing her students start to finally catch onto the language they were learning, it was unbelievably draining trying to get the basic concepts into their little brains.

“Rough session?” Villanelle looked over to see Elena leaning against the counter.

“Not too bad today,” Villanelle admitted, rubbing her face with her hands, “but sometimes I just want to bash my head against a wall.”

Elena chuckled, moving around the counter and sitting at the table with Villanelle. “Tell me about it, babe, after talking to customers all day sometimes I just want to drown myself.”

Villanelle laughed, feeling the weight of the day finally settling onto her chest. She felt exhausted from the emotional turmoil she felt after seeing Eve in the teachers’ lounge. Villanelle went from confused to upset to angry to confused again to absolutely enraged. She hadn’t been on an emotional roller coaster like this since Paris. She did not want to relive those events.

“You would make a good teacher, Elena,” Villanelle said, looking over to the other woman, “You are very funny and honest, and students appreciate both of those qualities. That is why I am a good teacher, and everybody likes me.”

Elena snorted, causing Villanelle to smile, she was glad to have someone who understood her sense of humour. At that Eve walked past them hurriedly, averting her gaze away from Villanelle.

“Eve!” Elena exclaimed, “I’ve got three shit bottles of wine and I brought cheese, the really nice kind ‘cause I was feeling fancy today!”

“Sounds good to me,” Eve said with a smile, her tone was chipped though.

Elena turned back to Villanelle wagging her eyebrows, “Ready to get smashed tonight?”

Villanelle quirked her eyebrow, “I do no-“

“Villanelle can’t stay for wine night,” Eve said quickly, “She has a family dinner.”

Her gaze shot to Eve, her eyes narrowing at the older woman. Eve kept her eyes on Elena, her hands wringing together in front of her.

“Yeah,” Villanelle said curtly, “I have dinner with my Uncle and his daughter, I’ll join another time.”

“Oh, that too bad!” Elena said with a pout, “Last time was so much fun!”

“It was,” Villanelle picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder, “Any way I should be going.”

She turned on her heel and moved out of the café. She only made it a few meters out the door when she was stopped by Eve’s voice, “Hey!”

Villanelle turned around and saw the other woman standing at the door of the café.

“You left your laptop charger,” Eve held up her hand holding the charger. Villanelle walked toward her, holding her hand out. As Eve gave it to her, she said softly, “I’m sorry about that.”

“I do not know what you are talking about,” Villanelle said as she stuffed the charger into her bag, her tone remained even.

“Oh, uh,” Eve scratched the back of her head, “about the whole wine night thing, I’m sorry about that… just since last time I-“

“I actually have plans,” Villanelle said. She didn’t have plans, she was hoping she could ask Eve to dinner tonight, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen now. 

“Right, cool. That’s good then.”

“What were you saying about last time?” Villanelle pushed, wanting to see what Eve had to say.

“I was just going to say…” Eve trailed off, trying to find her words. Villanelle watched her with a steady gaze, feeling her heart starting to beat faster in her chest. All she wanted to hear was Eve say that she liked the kiss, that she liked kissing Villanelle. That she wanted to keep kissing Villanelle. “I was going to say that I didn’t mean anything when I kissed you. I hope you didn’t get the wrong impression.”

_Oh._

Villanelle’s expression remained stony, but her mind was bursting. She could feel the wave of emotion crashing against her chest. But she did not let one bit of it slip onto her face.

Eve continued, “We were both drunk and sometimes I get-”

“No, it is okay Eve,” Villanelle lied, knowing that it was definitely _not_ okay, “It did not mean anything to me either.” Villanelle’s lie was so convincing that she almost thought that it was true.

A fleeting expression of hurt crossed Eve’s features, causing Villanelle’s heart to clench.

“Alright,” Eve said awkwardly, walking backwards into the store, “I should go help Elena close up.”

“Okay, Eve,” Villanelle gave her a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “bye.”

“Bye.”

* * *

The front door banged shut behind Villanelle, she leaned up against it letting the back of her head hit the door. She let out a long sigh, closing her eyes momentarily trying to collect herself from the events of the afternoon.

She was upset. She felt hurt from Eve’s coldness, from her rejection. But what did Villanelle expect? Unfortunately, for her not all women with husband’s were susceptible to her charms. Though married women _were_ Villanelle’s type, and always seemed to get her into trouble.

Villanelle’s eye cracked open at the sound of someone moving around her kitchen. She stood up straight and slowly walked further into her apartment, poking her head into through the door to the kitchen, where she found Konstantin pulling a pan out of one of the kitchen cabinets.

“Oh, she’s home!” Konstantin said condescendingly, shooting Villanelle a raised eyebrow, “do not tell me you were out causing trouble.”

Apparently, Eve’s story of Villanelle having a family dinner was not a lie. 

“Oh, Konstantin,” Villanelle walked over to her uncle and patted him on the shoulder, “you have no idea.”

Konstantin grunted, telling Villanelle that her answer was not something he wanted to hear.

“Villanelle,” He said in a warning tone, causing her to turn around and put on an innocent smile. “I am serious.”

“And I am joking,” Villanelle smiled, pulling herself up onto the kitchen counter and swinging her legs. “You should go get checked for Alzheimer’s or dementia, Uncle, you seem to be losing it a bit.” She pointed a finger to her head and twirled it around.

“I do not want a repeat of Paris, Villanelle,” Konstantin turned away from her and put the pan on the stove, cranking up the heat.

“There will be no repeat.”

“Really?” He said over the sizzle of the pan. It looked like he was making steak, and Villanelle’s mouth started to water as the smell started to waft through the kitchen. “Because Irina said she’s seen you flirting with the owner of that café close to your work.”

“I was not!” Villanelle exclaimed, she had to get Irina back for this, the sneaky little shit.

“Irina said she also saw that the woman has a husband,” Konstantin continued, he waved around the spatula he was holding, “Listen Villanelle, I just want to make sure you are not messing up your life here. I had to pull a lot of strings to make sure what happened last time did not go on your permanent record. Do not make me regret my decision to help you.”

Villanelle crossed her arms and pouted, she knew she was being immature, but she hated when her uncle bossed her around.

“Fiiiine,” she said, rolling her eyes and huffing out her cheeks.

“If anything happens to that woman, like what happened to Anna, I am not helping you. You are on your own.”

Villanelle’s heart clenched at the name, causing her to drop her arms. She felt her breathing start to pick up. Villanelle swung herself off of the bench top and quickly opened the fridge, grabbing the cooled bottle of vodka out. She poured herself a shot and quickly drank it, her face scrunching up at the taste.

Villanelle took a few more shots, each time thinking to herself: _Eve is not like Anna. This is not like Paris._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do British schools even do dances??? Oh well, for the sake of the plot I'm making them have one 
> 
> Thanks for reading guys, I hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> I know, I know, I wanted them to be all over each other after the kiss but I know exactly where i want to go with this fic and dont worry more Villaneve will be coming soon ;)
> 
> Please leave a comment with your thoughts! I would really appreciate it as they give me the motivation to keep writing this fic :)


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